The scars of battle; Sam Bennett's jersey cut to pieces after he hit the deck hard in icy cold Norway today.
By Brian Canty
Sam Bennett has crashed at high speed in the closing kilometres of the Arctic Tour of Norway today but luckily escaped with only cuts and bruises.
The NetApp-Endura fastman was towards the front of the race on the 207 kilometre second stage from Honningsvåg to Alta when he came down in a pile of riders and ended up losing over 10 minutes.
Stage honours went to reigning Milan San Remo champion Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), who got the better of his fellow countryman Thor Hushovd (BMC), with Edward Theuns (Topsport-Vlaanderen) coming home in third.
Stage 1 winner Lars Petter Nordhaug (Belkin), also from Norway, kept hold of the leader’s jersey, despite being involved in a crash earlier in the day.
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The stage was dominated by a four-man breakaway that was caught inside 10km to go. And though two from that group, Krister Hagen (ØsterHus-Ridley) and Andreas Erland (Sparebanken Sør), went for broke, their move proved futile.
As the sprinters’ teams began to jostle for position, one of the IAM Cycling riders hit the deck and took out riders from his own team, MTN-Qhubeka and Bennett's NetApp-Endura squad.
It was unclear what caused the accident, but it was believed someone may have hit a bottle that had been discarded by another rider.
Bennett is now 96th at 11 minutes 49 seconds.
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The race continues tomorrow with a flattish 132 kilometre trek, though there is a summit finish which should see a sizeable shake-up in the general standings.
After stage 1 split the field to pieces yesterday, a sprint finish looked on the cards on stage 2. But while the mass gallop to the line did indeed come to pass, Sam Bennett was back the road having come down in a huge pile up on the pointy end of the stage. Above, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) celebrate his win.
The countryside has been absolutely stunning in Norway, though Bennett got a closer look at the tarmac than he would have hoped for today.
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